Oracle Blog

Oracle Hardware

Wednesday Mar 19, 2014

Having been working in the IT industry for 27 years, I’ve seen my share of outrageous vendor claims. In fact, it is one my biggest pet peeves about our industry. How many times have you seen XYZ vendor claiming their solution is “industry leading”, “best-in-class”, “world class” or “leading edge” without providing any empirical evidence to back up that claim. Worse yet, I’ve seen claims (from vendors not to be mentioned here) of 3x, 4x or 10x faster, bigger, or otherwise “better” than the competition with no report, benchmark test or third-party source credited. It happens all the time and it begs the question, if it comes from the vendor, not an independent third party, why would a potential customer believe it?

DCIG uses a rigorous 8-step evaluation process to arrive at
their recommendation(s).This year, DCIG
evaluated 42 tape libraries from eight different vendors and classified them into five
categories:

Best-in-class (bestowed upon a single product)

Recommended

Excellent

Good

Basic

I
particularly like the DCIG analysis because it makes a strong effort to
evaluate its subject matter from the perspective of the customer. As stated in the report’s executive summary,
the DCIG 2014 Big Data Tape Library Buyer's Guide accomplishes the following
objectives:

Provides an
objective, third-party evaluation of tape libraries that weights, scores and
ranks their features from an end-user’s viewpoint

Scores and
ranks the features on each tape library based upon criteria that matter most to
end-users, so they can quickly know which tape libraries are the most
appropriate for them to use and under what conditions”

So, if you
want the inside scoop from an independent third-party on why the Oracle
StorageTek SL8500 was ranked the #1 Big Data tape library and superior to
offerings from IBM, HP, and Spectra Logic, then click here.

Thursday Feb 13, 2014

Oracle is kicking off a 17-city North American event series on how running Oracle Applications on Oracle hardware can help customers deliver maximum value and achieve dramatically better business results.

Oracle has engineered and optimized every layer of the underlying hardware and software to work together—so you can replace wait time with work time and get more out of your business. At the Oracle Systems: Enhancing Your Applications event, attendees will learn how they can:

Reduce costs and focus on innovation with superior Oracle ERP and CRM application and database performance

Improve time to value by adding new capabilities when you need them

Drive productivity and business value with Oracle Hardware systems and Oracle Optimized Solutions

Transform business processes with Oracle’s new In-Memory Applications for Oracle’s Engineered Systems

Thursday May 23, 2013

Last month, Oracle invited industry analysts for an annual deep dive on what’s to come. One of these analysts – ESG’s senior analyst Mark Peters – recently posted an update of how he spent some of his time at the event. We totally recommend you visit his blog and check out the post, but here are a few highlights:

Diverse CrowdPeters was struck by the fact that he wasn’t seeing a lot of familiar faces in the crowd. He later realized the reason for that was because Oracle doesn’t just have a hardware message – it also speaks to the software side of the equation.

“The opportunities for Oracle to make significant progress in terms of market share and revenue lie in markets that it does not yet dominate. It’s a crucial point for this growing systems house.”

That’s a crucial point we’re well positioned for. Our complete stack of offerings provide world-record-breaking performance by fusing critical pieces of software and hardware in ways that deliver cost-performance unlike anything the tech industry has seen.

Bullish on StorageMark filmed a brief interview with Oracle’s Phil Bullinger, senior vice president of storage. Mark and Phil go into great details on the ZFS Storage business.

Thursday May 02, 2013

Whether you are new to storage or a seasoned professional, deciding which storage systems to buy can have a big impact on how your business performs. There are a lot of factors to consider and each one should be weighed in light of the impact it will have on your applications, business processes, risk exposure, management overhead and of course your budget. I have started a series of podcasts to examine the top 10 considerations you should keep in mind when deciding which storage system you should go with as well as the impact those considerations might have for your business. Luckily, we have many great people at Oracle with deep storage experience, so I rounded up three individuals who can really help examine common issues like performance, scalability and high availablity. I will be releasing roughly one episode a week so check back often. You can listen right from the webpage below or just subscribe with your favorite podcatching app.

Wednesday Apr 17, 2013

I attended the 2013 NAB (National Association of Broadcasters) show in Las Vegas last week and, wow, I have to say I was a bit blown away. Of course, it would be prudent to say that it was my first time attending NAB, so that probably had a lot to do with my overall impression.

NAB is one of the largest trade shows that comes to Las Vegas each year and the pure size of the show is impressive. The show is a who's who of technology suppliers to the media and entertainment (M&E) industry. From the usual tech industry suspects including Oracle, IBM, HP, Microsoft, Cisco, EMC, Adobe, etc. to M&E specific suppliers such as Grass Valley, Front Porch Digital, Black Magic, AJA and Avid Technology, anyone who is anyone, or desires to be someone, in the M&E space was there with all their latest software, hardware and other gadgets and gee whiz gizmos. Everything you need for digital content creation, post production work, workflow management, content distribution and content delivery systems.

The amazing thing for me to witness was the complete transformation of the industry to the digital age. The transformation from analog to digital probably began in earnest in the M&E industry about fifteen years ago and it is evident that the transformation is now nearly complete. The fact that the above mentioned, traditional IT suppliers were well represented with large booths is a good indication of the progress of the M&E industry to an all digital workflow... from content creation to content delivery and finally to digital archiving.

You could consider the NAB show as an annual barometer for how the traditional IT community is embracing the media and entertainment industry as a truly legitimate, high growth opportunity. As far as vertical market opportunities go these days, you hear a lot about the healthcare, energy, retail and financial industries as the top opportunities, but from the perspective of the floor of the NAB show, you would have to put the M&E industry right at the top with those others. As the M&E industry completes it's transition to digital, the infrastructure required to drive it becomes a multi-billion dollar opportunity for both software and the underlying hardware infrastructure which includes plenty of high powered servers, storage and networking. That's why Oracle was at the show with an impressive booth full of M&E solutions including:

Traffic in the Oracle booth was solid for the entire four days of the show with many industry leaders stopping by for in-booth demonstrations and meetings including HBO, Turner Broadcasting, Front Porch Digital and Harris to name just a few. Many of these discussions revolved around requirements for moving digital media assets through the workflow process, as well as the integration of digital archiving throughout that workflow. Many customers were interested in understanding how the new LTFS specification for digital tape has emerged as the enabler for simplifying the integration a digital repository or archive into the DAM/MAM (digital asset management/media asset management) workflow. As a co-chair of the SNIA (Storage Networking Industry Association) committee responsible for the LTFS specification, Oracle is uniquely qualified to guide M&E customers through that discussion.

And as it is doing with LTFS, Oracle will be there with the right technology and the right solutions to assist the media and entertainment industry as it continues it's digital media revolution. So don't forget to look for us at the 2013 IBC show on September 13-17 in Amsterdam and next year's NAB show in Las Vegas on April 7-10, 2014.

Monday Apr 08, 2013

If you have been thinking about setting up a DBaaS (Database as a Service) for your company you won't want to miss this webcast about implementing DBaaS using Oracle Enterprise Manager 12c and Oracle Sun ZFS Storage Appliance. In this webcast you will learn about the features and benefits that the Sun ZFS Storage Appliances provide when used with Enterprise Manager 12c DBaaS Snap Clone and watch a live demo of this exciting new feature. Snap Clone leverages Oracle's own Sun ZFS Storage Appliance system to clone even the largest database in minutes while at the same time providing unmatched performance and efficiency. Users can create their own copies for functional testing and development without consuming large amounts of disk space.

Tuesday Jan 15, 2013

It’s no mystery that Oracle
offers the most comprehensive and flexible portfolio of cloud products and
services in the industry. From public cloud to private cloud, our strategy is
to empower and support customers to make the best decisions with products and
services that address their needs throughout
their journey to the cloud. Today, we’re excited to announce the addition of
Oracle Infrastructure as a Service with Capacity on Demand (Oracle IaaS).

Yes, you heard that right. Now
you can have Oracle Engineered Systems hardware deployed on-premise without upfront
capital expenditures in a pure OpEx model in which Oracle still owns the
hardware. With Oracle IaaS, instead of buying or leasing the hardware, you can
now spread the cost over time by paying a simple monthly fee – there’s no
financing or complex lease terms involved.

What’s Capacity on Demand? Well
for customers who want the power, security, and reliability of an on-premise engineered
system, but don’t necessarily need all of that computing capacity all the time,
each Oracle IaaS system includes additional CPU capacity that can be enabled at
any time to handle peak workloads and disabled when no longer needed. Capacity
on Demand helps keep infrastructure costs down because customers only pay for
the additional CPU capacity during the months it’s used, while providing extra
juice whenever workloads spike or business requirements change.

Wait, there’s more. Oracle
Infrastructure as a Service includes industry-leading services that maximize
performance, reliability and security. With the monthly fee, customers also
receive Oracle Premier Support for Systems, Oracle
Platinum Services,
and the new Oracle PlatinumPlus Services which provide quarterly proactive
analysis and advisory services to ensure that customers’ systems are configured
optimally – all at no extra cost.

Wednesday Sep 19, 2012

For anyone attending Oracle OpenWorld and involved in Storage, join us at the Storage Forum & Reception. This special engagement offers you the ability to meet Oracle’s top storage executives, architects and fellow storage colleagues.

Features include interactive sessions and round-table discussions on Oracle's storage strategy, product direction, and real-world customer implementations. It’s your chance to ask questions and learn first-hand about Oracle's response to top trends and what keeps storage managers up at night, including how to contain storage costs, improve performance, and ensure seamless integration with Oracle software environments.

Friday Aug 10, 2012

Need to see what's going on with your storage system while you are on the go? Now you can do just that with the Sun ZFS Appliance Monitor. This iPhone and iPad compatible app will let you monitor multiple Sun ZFS Storage Appliances right from your phone or tablet. You can see detailed storage analytics, monitor system, component and service statuses, as well as alerts and logs all from a beautiful interface designed for use on smaller screens. No configuration changes are possible due to the potential for errant clicks and touches on these small devices that are often triggered by mistake from your pocket, but this is a big step forward in being able to keep current on the status of the data that drives a successful business.

No word on when an Android compatible app might be available, but if you have an iPhone or an iPad you can download this app for free right now from iTunes.

Thursday Jul 19, 2012

Mark Hurd and John Fowler talked Wednesday about the need for optimized storage platforms and how Oracle is delivering these systems to our customers. The event included not only an overview and interviews from Mark and John, but also two additional sessions which included a round table discussion with storage development management and a webcast by Jim Cates and Tom Wultich introducing the new StorageTek SL150 Modular Tape Library.

John interviewed Andrew Reichman from Forrester Research and there were a number of customers featured including Alex Latham (Novation), Desh Urs (iBridge), Mark Lemmons (T3Media) and Darian Anderson (Ixtend). Also, Oracle's Jim Cates gave a brief overview of the SL150, the new comletely modular, scalable tape library designed for growing small to midsized companies

What I found most interesting was when Andrew Reichman described the storage industry historically as a "dark art" practiced by deeply technical engineers. I used to be one of those guys :) He went on to say that what is important to businesses isn't necessarily what protocol or new storage specification the storage device is running, but how well it can be automated and integrated with the applications it supports. That way companies can get more business value out of the data that they are storing.